Japanese Manhole covers T-shirts from 47Regions
Japan is a place of so many different and wonderful things to do and see. A lot of times when we are planning our trips to Japan we decide not always to have our whole day Read more

Kizuna Japanese subscription box
This is a promotional post.
We were offered the opportunity to try a new subscription box from Kizuna Box from Japan. Of course we jumped at the chance. We were given the option of two different boxes, Read more

Sakura Matsuri Stockholm – Cherry Blossom Festival
On April 22nd was the annual cherry blossom hanami festival in Stockholm (“Körsbärsblommans Dag”), Sweden. It's an event organized by the Japanese Association, and we were very happy to see that they - once Read more

Top Japanese places to visit in London
In this post we have collected our top Japanese places to visit in London. The city has so many places that are connected to Japan in one way or another. In our top Read more

Best art, crafts and stationery shops in Tokyo
As a person who love all things art and crafts I've hunted down the best shops that I could find during my travels in Tokyo. Here's a guide to my personal favourites. Read more

made in japan

will.I.Am – #thatPower

#thatPower is a single from Will.I.Am’s 3rd album #willpower which was released in April 2013. The song was written by Will.I.Am, DJ Ammo (who has worked on other tracks with Will.I.Am and Black Eyed Peas, a group Will.I.A. is a member of) and Justin Bieber. The track features Justin Bieber who sings. The track was first released on YouTube the 15th of March 2013 with the iTunes release a couple of days later on the 18th of March. It had it’s first radio play in the UK on Capital FM the 15th of March. The track made it quite high up in both the UK week chart and the US Billborad, with UK ending up at 2 and the US at 17th place. The music video to #thatPower was first released on the 19th April 2013.

The Music Video

The music video to #thatPower was filmed in Japan. It features Will.I.Am and a hologram of Justin Bieber dancing in different locations across Tokyo. The locations being more of an architectural standing. Some locations I did recognize and some I had no idea about. The video features the well known dance/music group World Order, which if you haven’t yet seen I suggest you check out one of their videos on YouTube. Some of the places that can be seen in #thatPower are Tokyu Plaza Omotesando, which is kind of a shopping centre that has a futuristic entrance with mirrors pointing everywhere, which gives you the effect of a kaleidoscope effect when going in. The shopping centre has a great rooftop café, which gives your nice sights over the city and it’s a really nice place to sit down for a while and relax. Another well known location in the video is the Eye of Shinjuku, a big art installation in the west exit of JR Shinjuku station. The Eye of Shinjuku has been there since 1969 and can be seen in the Beastie Boys – Intergalactic music video from 1989. Other places that can been seen in the video are the Tokyo Big Sight, a large convention centre in Tokyo and the Florian Claar’s “Fragment No.5″ which I had never seen before. It can found in Tokyo Midtown. There are a lot of very modern design buildings as backdrops in the video, which does not surprise me, really. Will.I.Am is a very creative person with an eye for something different and the locations that are featured in #thatPower are of the more modern architecture to what you might be used too seeing.

The Black Eyed Peas – Just Can’t Get Enough

Just Can’t Get Enough is a song from the American hip-hop group The Black Eyed Peas. It is the second single from the group’s album The Beginning. The song was written by the group and produced with help of DJ Ammo, Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, and Tommy Brown. The Black Eyed Peas have been a group since 1995 but they did not hit it big until their album Elephunk was released in 2003. To date the group are one of the all time best selling artists with 35 million albums and 41 million singles over the sold over the world. They were also ranked 12th on the Billboard ’​s Decade-End Chart.

Music Video

The video consists of all the members of The Black Eyed Peas: will.i.am, Apl.de.ap, Taboo, and Fergie. The video was shot while The Black Eyed Peas where in Japan on a press tour. It only took three days to shoot, it was filmed in Tokyo and directed by Ben Mor (who has also directed the music video for Scream & Shout).

What I love about the music video is the futuristic feel, with some of the locations being Sega Joypolis for like half a second, which was a shame. You can also see the driverless train in a couple shots, the one you can ride out to Odaiba to go to places like Sega Joypolis or go and see the massive Gundam robot behind Tokyo Diver shopping centre. There are also lots of street views of Tokyo at night in the video, which look fantastic. One of the shots features some of the led signs near the Shibuya crossing, and you can also spot Don Quijote in Roppongi in the background in of one of the shots.

The Just Can’t Get Enough video was released on Vevo on the 16th of March 2011 and the single was released about a month before that. The single reached number 1 on the UK dance chart and number 3 on the offician UK singles chart. It also reached the same position on the Billboard charts. The video was shot a week before the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, and just like the music video Big in Japan by Martin Solveig and Dragonette., it features a message: “Our thoughts and prayers go out to all the people of Japan. We love you”

Muse

Muse are an English alternative rock band from Teignmouth, a town in Devon, which lies in the south west of England. The band is formed of 3 members; Matthew Bellamy, Christopher Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard. The band started out in 1994 with their first album released 1999 called Showbiz. Since then to the present album, The 2nd Law, there has been six studio albums released by Muse to date.

Panic Station

The latest single of the album is Panic Station, and this video was mostly filmed in Tokyo while Muse was on a tour there in January 2013. The video was released on 22 April 2013. One of the locations that can be seen is the Shibuya crossing, which is one of the most famous crossings in the world (because of the amount of people that cross it at once). Another place that can be seen is Center Gai, one of the streets that leads off the Shibuya crossing. The video was also shot inside the robot restaurant which can be found in Kabukicho in Shinjuku-ku.

Manic Street Preachers – Motorcycle Emptiness

The Manic Street Preachers are an alternative rock band that was formed in 1986. The band is a 3 man band at the moment, in the past there where 4 members, but the last member, Richey Edwards, disappeared and later on declared deceased. The current 3 members are James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire and Sean Moore. The band originally comes from Blackwood in Wales.

Motorcycle Emptiness

The video to the 1992 song Motorcycle Emptiness was first released on the 13th of June 1992 and the song reached place 17 in the UK singles chart. The video was shot on different location, mostly based in or close to Tokyo. Places that can be spotted are the Shibuya crossing and Shiba-koen park with the Tokyo Tower in the background. They also filmed some of the video in a neighbouring city called Yokohama, where you can see the large Ferris wheel with a clock on. That was also the largets Ferris wheel in the world when it first opened. They also filmed at the Shomyoji Temple that lies outside of Yokohama.

Beastie Boys – Intergalactic

Intergalactic is a song by the American hip-hop group the Beastie Boys. The video was filmed mostly in Tokyo with scenes in both Shibuya and Shinjuku train stations. The video has a large robot that can be seen in the video, which is very Japanese. In the video the guys can be seen wearing street construction workers clothes that are called “koji” in Japanese. The video made is premier on may the 12th 1998.

The members of the band at the time of making of the video were Michael “Mike D” Diamond, Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz, and Adam Yauch, who sadly past away last year.

10 months agoby whysojapanThe winners for the official Tokyo 2020 Games mascots have been chosen. “The Olympic Mascot and Paralympic Mascot have opposite personalities. However, they respect each other and they are very good friends. They both have a great spirit of hospitality. They always try their best to cheer and encourage everyone.” #tokyo2020#olympics#olympics2020#mascots#whysojapan#olympics#paralympics

3 months agoby whysojapanThe Japanese Society in Stockholm held an Autumn Festive Val at the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities at Skeppsholmen in Stockholm, Sweden today. A nice little market with food and goods for sale. #whysojapan#h östmarknad #östasiatiskamuseet #japanskaf öreningen

8 months agoby whysojapanHie Shrine, a Shinto shrine in Tokyo. It is somewhere around 600 years old, but has been rebuilt a couple of times due to a great fire in 1657 and the bombing of Tokyo during WW2. It is one of the national treasures of Japan, and a place in Tokyo where you can see pretty red torii in a long row. #NationalTreasure #国宝 #kokuh ō #HieShrine #日枝神社 #HieJinja#Shintoshrine#torii

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Why So Japan is a blog about Japan from a view of someone living on the other side of the world. After visiting Japan a few times I was hooked.Read more»

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